


If You Hurt My Car, You Hurt My Heart

by soulofevil



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 00:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12715683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulofevil/pseuds/soulofevil
Summary: That 1969 Dodge Charger has always been more than just a car to Robbie.





	If You Hurt My Car, You Hurt My Heart

The first time he saw her was in the junkyard. A rusted out body stripped of useful parts. Robbie didn’t think it was worth five bucks much less the amount that Eli was willing to pay for it but the man insisted. The 1969 Dodge Charger was a classic. The 1969 Dodge Charger was a beauty. The 1969 Dodge Charger was a blahblahblah. Robbie had perfected that sullen, glazed over look and it rested on his face as Eli talked. He knew all this, it had been his favorite car since he was six and his dad had given him a Hot Wheels version of it. But Robbie didn’t want that piece of junk, he didn’t want Eli’s enthusiasm, he didn’t want any of this. 

All he wanted was his mom.

\------

Every weekend over the summer, Robbie and Eli went to the various junkyards in L.A. and nearby cities, finding each piece they needed. Robbie just stared out the window as they drove and looked through the scrapyards barely uttering more than a word at a time. If Eli was bothered by the long stretches of silence and the unanswered questions, he never showed it. Most of the time he filled the quiet with talk about the specs of the car they were putting together. V8 engine or something larger? Keep it authentic or maybe upgrade a few things? Cherry red or-

“Black.” Robbie watched Eli’s reflection in the window rather than looking at the man himself. He was already hunching in on himself, feeling defensive and expecting rejection. 

“Matte black or glossy?”

For the first time since Eli had forced him into this project, Robbie pictured what the results of their work would be and what he wanted it to be. And for the first time in months, a smile flickered on his lips.  
“Glossy.”

\------

On Uncle Eli’s days off, he and Robbie worked on the car. The broken framework of the car slowly transforming into something whole under their hands. Building something felt good and while he was distracted with work, Robbie was more free with his words, stringing together full sentences rather than single word answers. Afternoons spent working on the car were where Eli learned the most about his oldest nephew. What classes he liked, the names of his friends, how he liked America football over real futbol.

But more freely than the words came Robbie’s smile. Small, fleeting things at first but slowly they started to linger longer on the teen’s face. 

\------

Robbie snuck out to the Charger the night after they put the seats in. The walls of the house were thin and even with Tio’s snoring Robbie didn’t feel like he had much privacy. But in the car, he was alone, in a safe place, and free from the worries that anyone might hear him. And for the first time since his parent’s funeral, he cried over them. Silent tears turning into choking sobs of anger and grief that he had kept pent up. He had tried so hard to be strong for Gabe’s sake, to hold everything together even when Eli had come to fill in the gap their parents had left. But it hurt, and even after he had no tears left Robbie still couldn’t catch his breath between the sob that wracked his body. 

Robbie didn’t hear the driver’s side door open, or notice Eli get in the car until his uncle’s arms were around him, gently pulling him into a hug. They stayed like that until Robbie’s crying finally tapered off and exhaustion claimed him.

\------

Robbie grabbed a nearby rag, twirled it up, and used it to swat Gabe off of the car. His brother pushed himself off the Charger’s shiny surface, leaving his grubby fingerprints behind on purpose and drawing a scowl from Robbie.  
“You know our bathroom wouldn’t be nearly so gross if you put half the care you show the car into cleaning it.”  
Robbie used the rag to clean off the fingerprints, rubbing at other specks he saw on the paint job.  
“Lucy.”  
“What?”  
“Not ‘the car’, Lucy.”

Robbie gave Lucy a loving looking, earning him some fake puking sounds from Gabe.  
“Really? You’re going to be one of _those_ kinds of people?”  
An imaginary smudge was buffed off the windshield before Robbie looked back at Gabe. Plenty of times before they had mocked the people in tv shows and movies for naming inanimate objects. But the Charger wasn't just some object to Robbie, the car was something he had poured his heart and soul into. Tio and him had taken something worthless, unwanted, broken, and seen as junk and had turned it into something whole and beautiful. 

Hell would freeze over before Robbie would ever admit it but the car reminded him of himself; a broken shell after their parents' death that had been in desperate need of care to be whole again. 

\------

The snoring from Eli’s room easily masked Robbie’s footsteps as he slipped out of his room and to the front door, grabbing his shoes and jacket before slipping out. Once outside he was a tangle of limbs, one arm through the sleeve of his jacket while hopping on one foot to get a shoe on, always moving towards the Charger no matter how awkward his movements. Robbie had long ago made a copy of the keys for himself, finding night drives the easiest way for him to relax and put the stress of life in the rearview mirror for an hour or two. And so long as he didn’t leave the gas tank empty, Tio didn’t seem to mind. Lucy was _their_ baby after all.

But those late night drives had slowly shifted to late night races. At first just a chance to show Lucy off, and show off himself as he won more races then he lost. Robbie told himself it was the easy money that kept him coming back to those thrown together street races, but really it was the feeling of being good at something. No, not just good, _great_. There were few things he took pride in but his racing was one. He was fast and aggressive but no one could slip the Charger into a tight spot like Robbie could. 

In one night he made almost as much money as a month at Canelo’s got him. Money that he could do whatever he wanted with. Some of it went towards parts and gas for the car, but most of it he saved away for Gabe. His baby brother was going to go to whatever college he wanted, Robbie was going to make sure of that. The fact that it was one of those Locos gangsters contributing a grand to Gabe’s college fund tonight only made his victory sweeter.

\------

Canelo had been kind enough to tow Lucy from the impound lot to the body shop. Robbie would have done it himself but he was still in disarray after the accident; face a scabbed up mess from the rocks and glass they had picked out of him, his right knee still couldn’t hold his weight, and his chest was a constant ache and throb where the bullets had slammed through him. And seeing the wrecked Charger was another reminder that he should have been dead.

**_You_ were _dead Robbie_**

Robbie clenched his jaw, ignoring that voice that kept reminding him of the accident. The one that wouldn’t let him forget that awful grinning skull and the burning pain that had followed.

The sudden touch to his arm made Robbie flinch back and Canelo looked apologetic.  
“If this is too difficult for you Robbie I know a few people who would be willing to buy the Charger from you.”  
That was pure bullshit, no one was going to buy Lucy in her current state but Robbie knew Canelo was just trying to help. Between the hospital bills and now Eli’s legal bills, Robbie could have used any extra money.

But Lucy was his baby and Robbie wasn’t going to give up on her now. He shook his head, shifting on his crutches so he could move closer to the car. His eyes fell on the red-tinged edges of the broken windshield before taking in the interior and the leather seats stained maroon. He had thought that fear and guilt would flood him at the reminders of what had happened, but it was rage that burned in his veins. 

**_Vengeance_ **

Yes, that was what bubbled beneath his skin, a need for vengeance.

His fingers brushed over Lucy’s scratched paint job as he started to take note of everything he was going to have to fix and replace.  
“No. I can fix her. I just need some time and she’ll be good as new.”  
While he could make do with the metro, for now, Robbie knew he was going to need a ride of his own. It seemed fitting that after his own possible resurrection that he now bring his car back to life.


End file.
